This Week In Film: The Good, The Bad, and The Gonzo

This week in film is a bit of a tough one. There’s no real stand-out stellar release and there’s also no obvious stinker. Instead we have three decent major releases that are flawed, but interesting.

There’s Andrew (The Truman Show) Nichols’ sci-fi thought experiment/thriller In Time, a film as intriguing as it is flawed. Next up is the preposterous Shakespeare conspiracy theory Anonymous that is a mess, but one that’s hard to look away from. And finally there’s the early Hunter S. Thompson movie The Rum Diary that’s a treat for fans of the good doctor, but a film that demands comparison to Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and just can’t quite live up to the expectations.

If you’re anxious to check out a new release this week, you could do worse than
these three titles. Though sadly, you could also do better.

The Good: In Time

Andrew Nichols’ movies all feel like brilliant concepts for
thoughtful sci-fi short stories stretched past their breaking point in the
feature length film format. In Time is
no different, offering an intriguing world in which no one ages past 25, but
after that age they have a year to live and all currency is based in time to
extend or shorten life expectancy. In Nichols’ world, severe class disparity
means that that the poor literally live day-to-day and the rich can live
forever. It’s an intriguing concept that Nichols milks for all it’s worth and
spins into an action movie, before losing the threat and stumbling to an
somewhat unsatisfying conclusion weighed down by far too many “time” puns and
wordplays.

The thing is, it’s still worth seeing for the brilliant
balancing act of high concept sci-fi and action that Nichols pulls off for most
of the movie. It tickles the brain and quickens the heart in rapid succession.
The only real bummer is the casting of Justin Timberlake, who is a decent actor
but is too famous off-camera to ever convincingly play a role without giving
off a stench of stunt casting.

He’s fine and fits well into a world where
everyone appears to be a beautiful 20-something, but given the fact he’s
supposed to play an insignificant drone, the character may have been better
represented by a pretty unknown. That doesn’t sell tickets though and, sadly, if
you want to make a think-piece science fiction movie in Hollywood, you’re going
to have to load it up with stars, sex, and violence. Given those restraints, In
Time at least works fairly well. Not a
classic, but worth a peek if you’re curious.

The Bad: Anonymous

Some people think that Shakespeare didn’t actually write his
revered plays and those people are insane. However, they’re also quite vocal
about it and some academics have dedicated entire careers to the subject.
So it makes sense that Hollywood would eventually turn the concept into a lurid
historical drama.

Thus we have Anonymous,
a film that suggests the Earl of Oxford actually wrote all of Shakespeare’s work,
but couldn’t take credit for it because writing was considered a frivolous
activity unbecoming a man of his title. So he paid to have his plays put up
in local theaters and a hack actor named Shakespeare took credit for them
almost by accident. It’s all hogwash of course, but undeniably entertaining
hogwash.

It’s both surprising and unsurprising to learn that the film
came from Roland Emmerich, the filmmaker who destroyed the world three times in
Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and
2012. It’s surprising because
it’s his smallest scale movie and the closest one to approaching some sort of
intellectual commentary. But it’s also unsurprising given that he’s turned the
concept into trashy epic filled with battles, expensive sets, sex, and
violence.

If you go into Anonymous
expecting some sort of intelligent discourse about the possibility of fraudulence
in The Bard’s revered back catalogue, you can go ahead and expect to be
disappointed. However, if you’re looking for a tasteless Elizabethan guilty
pleasure, you came to the right place. It’s a damn absurd movie, but also
something that could never in good conscience be described as boring. Approach
with caution.

The Gonzo: The Rum Diary

Finally, the last notable release of the week is another
flawed movie, but probably the best of the three. It’s The Rum Diary, a bizarre origin story of sorts for the late, great
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

Based on
his early novel of the same name, the film sees a young and naïve (but still
delightfully nuts) Thompson taking a job at a tourist paper in Puerto Rico that
introduces him to 40 proof alcohol as well as the lazy, easily bought editors
and the snaky economic elite who would become the “bastards” that he would go on to spend his career attacking.
The main problem with the film is the way it’s awkwardly forced into a Batman
Begins-style origin story. It rings false,
but I suppose something like that was required to structure the episodic
narrative of the book for a big screen adaptation.

Johnny Depp oddly plays a younger version of the middle-aged
Hunter S. Thompson that appeared in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas 14 years ago. It’s weird, but given the movie star’s
inability to age and the fact that he played a far older character the first
time, he’s great in the film and it’s so nice to see him in an eccentric indie
again rather than broadly slapsticking his way through yet another blockbuster.

The directorial reins were handed over to Bruce Robinson (who also wrote the
script) and he’s an inspired choice. Robinson was responsible for arguably the
greatest alcoholic comedy ever made in Withnail and I and his pitch-black sense of humor flavored with
melancholy is perfect for the material. Granted, sometimes his depressingly
real tone clashes with Depp’s exaggerated performance, but for the most part
they work well as collaborators.

The major issue with the film for most people will be the
fact that it lacks the balls out insanity and hysterical humor of Fear and
Loathing In Las Vegas. However that was
always going to happen as excessive alcohol abuse in a depressed country just
isn’t as fun as a hallucinogenic journey through Vegas. Audiences expecting Fear
And Loathing 2 might be disappointed,
particularly after the misleading marketing material. However, if you’re able
to accept the fact that this is a very different movie about a very different
Hunter S. Thompson, there’s plenty to enjoy about the film on its own
melancholic comedy terms. Flawed? Sure, but still a must-see for anyone who
worships at the altar of the great Hunter S. Thompson.

Also released this week:Puss In Boots (remember that character who was kind of
entertaining in the Shrek sequels? Now
he’s got his own kind of entertaining movie. I guess that’s a good thing kind
of.), Like Crazy (love it’s crazy
man. Thank god someone finally made a movie about it), and The Double (Richard Gere and Topher Grace, together at last.
Hang on to your gerbils!).

Phil Brown was born years ago. He then grew up, went to university, and now reviews movies, interviews people and writes comedy. He writes for a number of websites and publications including the one you are currently reading. Phil can be found haunting movie theatres around Toronto. He isn't dangerous,…